Protectors of Earth
Page 12
“He wrote me just once after he left. It was an ordinary email, full of funny stories about his new job. Even when things were falling apart, he could always make me laugh. But that’s not enough, you know? Not one word about how our marriage was in ruins on account of his closed-off, secretive, refusal to … to connect.” Mom brings her index finger down on a stray piece of icing on the tray, sucks it off her finger. “Anyway, he made out like everything was hunky-dory, so have a nice life, Jules, and look after my kid, willya? Jesus, that man. But right at the end, in a PS, he put: ‘I really am FINE.’ In all caps. So I sometimes wonder if he was trying to tell me something.”
“Like what?” I’m in shock. Not because she’s finally talking about my dad, but because he sounds … oh dear … so much like me.
“I have no idea.”
“And you never heard from him again?”
“Not a peep. Have a cinnamon roll.” She takes one and makes as if to toss it to Tancred, who’s nosing around our legs—then remembers that Void Dragons do not eat regular food, and pushes it on me.
I’m on my second one when Dr. Joy comes out of the house. “Oh good, you’ve got your computer,” he says, settling in on my other side. “Elsa wants to talk to you. Put a call through.”
I have been dreading this.
I place the call request, and find a message from Elsa awaiting me. “Please make sure you’re someplace private when you respond to this, Jay,” she says, looking haggard.
I glance around at the garden, full of squaddies, Void Dragons, my mom, and Adam … and shrug. My dad was secretive, and refused to connect. He abandoned his kid and pretended everything was F.I.N.E. I‘m not going to be like him. Not anymore.
Opening the secure video call function, I give Elsa a rundown of everything that happened. Dr. Joy interjects clarifications from time to time. My mom’s eyes get huge when I describe my intercontinental flight dangling from Tancred’s claws, but she doesn’t interrupt.
Then, bcause there’s a 20-minute round-trip delay to Ceres, I close my computer and we have lunch. Dessert turns out to be a chocolate ice cream duck, sculpted with loving care by Francie and Patrick. So that’s what they were doing indoors. Maybe … No. Never mind. I eat a chunk of the duck, and join, self-consiously, in the food fight that finishes off the meal. Advantages of eating outdoors in Kenya: the pelicans are on the scraps as soon as they fall, so no one has to clean up.
Elsa has called back.
I take my laptop up to the nook in the top of the garden, where Adam has installed a stone loveseat. From here you can see a sliver of the lake over the treetops.
The scent of wild sage turns me queasy as I listen to what Elsa has to say.
“So, I blame this on myself. I should not have advised you to leave Tancred behind.”
“No,” I mutter. “That’s on me.” Tancred hops up on the loveseat and sprawls across my lap. “Oof!”
“In future he’ll have to accompany you.”
“Yup,” I say, to him.
“And Pinkie Pie will have to accompany Francie. This is going to be tricky. The gene-modded lizard story is pretty thin.”
“And what about when mine hatches?” says Jeremy, plopping down beside me.
“If yours hatches,” I say. “You never know, you might get lucky.”
“It’s not yours, anyway,” says Patrick, popping up behind the loveseat.
“Try and take it off me, digger,” says Jeremy.
“I’d never get the cavalry cooties off of it.”
“Yo, this lady got me discharged from the 44th. Just like that,” Jeremy says.
“She’s Scatter’s aunt, you know.”
Then we have to rewind.
“Bearing this in mind,” Elsa says, “I’ve decided that we should split you up. Those without eggs or dragons will go back to Europe.”
Patrick goes pale. Francie pops up behind him and says, “What? No way. Ma’am.”
But Elsa can’t hear her. She goes on, “Those with eggs or dragons—that is, Jay, Francie, and Jeremy—will be assigned to a different mission. I’ve have more details for you shortly, but …”
Is she going to talk about the conspiracy in the heart of the Department of Defense? The highly placed spies passing information to the Offense, betraying humanity with every breath they take?
No.
“You’re going to Callisto.”
THE STORY CONTINUES IN
SOLDIERS OF CALLISTO
BOOK 3 OF THE VOID DRAGON HUNTERS SERIES.
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VOID DRAGON HUNTERS
Military Sci-Fi with Space Dragons
In 2160, a Void Dragon ate the sun.
In 2322, eight-year-old Jay Scattergood found a Void Dragon egg in his garden.
Humanity survived the death of the sun, but now we're under attack by the Offense. These intelligent, aggressive aliens also lost their sun to a Void Dragon. They lost their home planet, too. Earth, now orbiting Jupiter, is still habitable - though much colder than it once was. The Offense will do whatever it takes to destroy humanity and take Earth for themselves.
Our last hope against the alien aggressors is Jay Scattergood ... and his baby Void Dragon, Tancred.
Guardians of Jupiter
Protectors of Earth
Soldiers of Callisto
Exiles of the Belt
Knights of Saturn
EARTH’S LAST GAMBIT
A Quartet of Present-Day Science Fiction Technothrillers
Ripped from the headlines: an alien spaceship is orbiting Europa. Relying only on existing technology, a handful of elite astronauts must confront the threat to Earth’s future, on their own, millions of miles from home.
Can the chosen few overcome technological limitations and their own weaknesses and flaws? Will Earth’s Last Gambit win survival for the human race?
The Signal And The Boys (prequel story, subscriber exclusive)
Freefall
Lifeboat
Shiplord
Killshot
EXTINCTION PROTOCOL
Hard Science Fiction With a Chilling Twist
Humanity has reached out into the stars - and found a ruthless enemy.
It took us two hundred years to establish fifteen colonies on the closest habitable planets to Earth. It took the Ghosts only 20 years to destroy them. Navy pilot Colm Mackenzie is no stranger to the Ghosts. He has witnessed first-hand the mayhem and tragedy they leave in their wake. No one knows where they came from, or how they travel, or what they want. They know only one thing for sure:
Ghosts leave no survivors.
Save From Wrath (short story, subscriber exclusive)
The Chemical Mage
The Nuclear Druid
THE SOL SYSTEM RENEGADES SERIES
Near-Future Hard Science Fiction
A genocidal AI is devouring our solar system. Can a few brave men and women save humanity?
In the year 2288, humanity stands at a crossroads between space colonization and extinction. Packed with excitement, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters, the Sol System Renegades series tells a sweeping tale of struggle and deliverance.
Keep Off The Grass (short origin story)
Crapkiller (prequel novella, subscriber exclusive)
1. The Galapagos Incident
2. The Vesta Conspiracy
3. The Mercury Rebellion
4. The Luna Deception
5. The Phobos Maneuver
6. The Mars Shock
7. The Callisto Gambit
THE RELUCTANT ADVENTURES OF FLETCHER CONNOLLY ON THE INTERSTELLAR RAILROAD
Near-Future Non-Hard Science Fiction
An Irishman in space. Untold hoards of alien technological relics waiting to be discovered. What could possibly go wrong?
Rubbish With Names (prequel story, subscriber exclusive)
Skint Idjit
Intergalactic Bogtrotter
Banjaxed Ceili
Supermassive Blackguard